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WIPjoy #7

7. A writing tip that has helped you.

There must be so many . . . I remember my thesis advisors telling me to watch for the word “just” because I used it too much. That was helpful. I know that it’s important to get a draft out and not pause to self-edit because then I’ll never finish the draft. That’s a useful tip, though I admit I struggle with it. Which is why it takes me forever to finish a draft. I’m trying to get better about that, though. Learning to query only agents at first and then publishers if I didn’t find an agent—that was good information, too. (I made the mistake of querying both simultaneously with one of my early manuscripts.)

In short, there are a lot of helpful tips out there. Some you’ll be able to implement, some may be harder. Some may feel unfair, like when I say, “Don’t rely on dreams and visions to move your protagonist through the story,” and then you see a successful author like Rick Riordan do that allthef***ingtime, and you wonder why you can’t. The answer is: you’re not Rick Riordan. (And, really, it drives me up the wall when he does it, too.)

I’m always learning as a writer. I think that’s important. Publishing is a rapidly changing industry, and trends are also always in flux. (That’s another tip: don’t write to trends because by the time you’ve got a finished manuscript, that trend will likely be over.) So stay on top of what’s going on. And write what you like, what you feel passionate about, because it will show in your prose. Your enthusiasm as a writer is part of what pulls your readers in.

There must be a million more tips that have helped me but that I’m not thinking of right now. When I get good advice, I adopt it and it becomes part of my process, so integrated that I don’t even think about it any more. Meanwhile, be sure to follow #WIPjoy on Twitter for more great writing tips!